A Winner Is You! Massie Block
by Yellowfur
Summary: For avatarjk137's "A Winner is You!" challenge. Participant: Massie Block, leader of the Pretty Committee and the hawtest thing to walk through this mall!
1. Intro

**Disclaimer: I do not own Massie Block, the Pretty Committee, any designer brands used unless specified otherwise, or the concept of the mall or contest.**

**This is my first entry for avatarjk137's challenge, "A Winner Is You!". To read more about it, go to his forum. This is my entry, using the character of Massie Block from Lisi Harrison's _The Clique_ novels.**

Massie Block made sure to swing her hips a little bit while she walked. Not enough to be slutty – just enough to show off the way her new ultra-faded denim mini minimized her hips (_Not that I need that_) and hugged her butt without looking tight at the same time. And over her metallic silver leggings? _The Pretty Committee was right; this outfit is a true hit. _She stopped in front of Gap. But only to use the store window as a mirror of course, because she would have had to be high on something really good to ever buy something from there. She finger combed her glossy brunette bob and admired the gray cashmere short-sleeved hoodie she had over a long-sleeved Stella McCartney white tee. Once she was done, she continued her walk down the empty, white marble corridor of the first floor of the comically oversized mall. She put on her best apathetic model stare, but deep inside she had to admit that she was pretty excited. Not because she was fighting in the tournament. That fact had basically slipped her mind. She was filled with nervous energy because she was in the _biggest mall in the world_. There was no telling what endless 'shopportunites' awaited. She had only trekked through half of the first floor, which alone took her fifteen minutes – and she wasn't even wearing heels. She had already seen some of her favorite shops. No doubt there would be every one on her list in this mall, and probably some funky foreign shops or brand new places. _This is ah-mazing!! Thank GAWD I remembered my credit cards. I'll probably have plenty of time to shop, too. What am I here for again? Oh right, fighting or something. Oh well, I'll just make it apparent before things even get started that I don't want to fight. I'll still be in the mall even if I lose. Maybe if it's a guy I'll wear my stiletto boots and see if I can get a kick in the shin or balls in. Ehmagawd, there are so many great shops here!! I'll have to get a jet or something and get the Pretty Committee here. _Massie whipped out her cell phone to speed dial the Pretty Committee – her best friends. She was their leader, their alpha, not to mention alpha of their entire all-girls school. So it was perfectly sensible that if anyone was going to brave a bunch of super powered weirdos and edible demons for the sake of shopping, it would be her. Still clutching her mobile, she decided this was all too much. She needed a nonfat latte, stat!

She came toward the food court but a Louis Vuitton store caught her eye first. She immediately halted and turned her attention to it, peering inside. Her amber eyes scanned the new bag in this season's collection. _I haven't heard about this design yet. This mall must get shipments ahead of time. Alicia's been anticipating this new set like crazy…I'd like to see the look on her face when I arrive back home with that clutch… _Slowly Massie put her cell away. Her friends would have to wait.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw some guy in the food court with a baseball cap staring at her intently. As she scoped the edges of the food court for a Starbucks, she made a point of pretending he wasn't there. _I'm _nawt_ going to let a bunch of freaks ruin my fun here. _

_Or the purpose of the contest, for that matter._

* * *

* * *


	2. Round 1

**Disclaimer: I own none of the character used within.**

**This is the second round for Massie's entry in**** avatarjk137's A Winner is You tournament. Watch as Massie attempts to fight for the first time. **

The match hadn't started yet, but they were to take their positions on the first floor – in the very center of the mall so everybody could watch them from the balconies of the second floor. Intricate fountains gushed around them and since they were in a clearing, one fountain reached the height of the third floor. The fountain was illuminated, and the black marble lining of the fountain, popping against the bright white marble of the floor, just added to the overly ornate decoration.

But such frilly things had no impact on Neji. He just stared at Massie, waiting for the round to start. He raised his hands up, as if to activate his Byakugan (his evil all-seeing eyes and secret weapon) with his ninjutsu. But he just kept them there.

He didn't even need to use them. What was with this opponent? _She's just looking around like a kid in a candy store. Look at her. Her back is to me._

Massie slowly rotated in her spot. She wasn't one to admit she was amazed, but look at this mall!! Surely that weird boy whom she hadn't even taken a good look at yet didn't seriously expect her to fight. She turned to face him. _What a loser beyond repair. He's just… I don't know, playing with his hands. What's with that vest? And the headband?_

Death by Chocolate addressed them with a megaphone. "Ready…"

"What?!" Massie called out to him, waving her thin wrists, her sparkly purple bangles clanging. "No!"

"…BEGIN!"

"Ugh!" She stuck her tongue out at him and placed her hands on her faded denim-clad hips.

"Should I be taking you seriously at all?" Neji glared at her (actually, that's sort of how his face always was). "Are you actually going to fight me?"

Massie took a step back. _Ehmagawd, this guy is serious. He thinks I can fight._ She giggled nervously, but then regained her mental footing. "I would try to attack you, but I'm afraid I may crack my skull open on that random metal plate thing on your forehead." She must have said it loud enough for it to travel; she heard bits of laughter from the second floor. She began to feel herself refill with renewed confidence. _Maybe I can do this after all._ _How hard can it be? I'll just kick him where it hurts. Hm, shins or balls? I know - I'll throw my cell phone at him. I need the new model, anyway. _

As she reached for her Motorola, he made the first move. Neji dashed at her.

His speed caught her off guard. Massie had barely gotten her phone out. She yelped in fear and tried to jump away. He hit her. It wasn't a bad hit; not much real strength or chakra put into it, and she covered her head with her arms. She went flying back a couple feet and slid a couple more.

When she scrambled back up again, slipping on her new black flats, Neji was calmly walking towards her. She gasped at the sight of him and ran off towards one of the corridor-type shop-lined boulevards.

"You have got to be joking!" Neji called out after her. But he didn't follow her. He watched her run with a speed surprising for someone who couldn't even take a hit. She turned a corner and went into a Nookington's outlet that took up about a seventh of the mall (which means pretty big!).

"Did she run away?!" A contestant questioned the demon. "Is it over?"

"Is she really gone?" Death by Chocolate asked Neji.

"I'll find her," Neji took off in her direction. He wasn't going fast at all, though. _It'd at least be interesting to see if she's going to do anything at all._

--

Massie ducked behind the Dior counter and plopped onto the black carpet, panting as she brought her knees up to her chest in an attempt to make herself small and therefore invisible as she clutched her cell phone. _Okay. Calm down. Let's evaluate. I can do this. Right. Definitely. Yeah. Okay._

_Situation: FW2KM (Freak Wants To Kill Me. Working title. Let's pray this changes to ISOH – I Somehow Outsmart Him.)_

_Option 1: Call 911. Well, no, I'm in a tournament. They wouldn't get here in time. I totally forgot where this mall is anyway._

_Option 2: Beg for mercy. But that looks so BAD!! … Okay, last resort._

_Option 3: Run around the mall and hide until he tires out. But damn, not enough caffeine in my system!! I don't even know where's the nearest place I could get a sugar-free Red Bull._

_Think! What can you probably do better than him?! … Apply makeup… shop… destroy someone's self-esteem… flirt…_

_Wait. Shop? We're in a MALL. Oh, duh!_

Massie got up and quickly made her way over to the nearest map. As her navy-lined amber eyes scanned it and she formulated a game plan, she reached down and took off her shoes. She stretched her legs, preparing to run…

--

Neji, meanwhile, was not having fun. He had gone in Massie's general direction and was pacing around Nookinton's, looking for Massie in the accessories section. _Honestly, I've been looking for this fool for fifteen minutes. _"If you're in here, know that if you don't show yourself within the next fifteen minutes, you lose by forfeit!!" He wasn't entirely sure if that was the rule, but it made sense. He didn't know much about the rules OR the mall for that matter. Or malls at all. He disliked the feeling of having such little control, but decided that issue would be better to dwell on later.

About seven minutes later, Neji drifted over to the home and furniture section. He looked around and let out a sharp sigh of frustration. He had forgotten why he was in this tournament. Something about sharpening his skills by getting involved in unusual situations? _Well, this isn't an unusual situation, someone just running away_.

"HEY!" A voice from the third floor called out. "White eyes! Up here!"

_Took you long enough_. "Come down from there and fight me!"

On the third floor, looking down at Neji from the balcony of the third floor, Massie was in the kitchen section. _First up: knives! _She ripped the plastic of a set of sharp knives. Leaning over the balcony where Neji stood scowling in some sort of fighting stance, she threw the knives one by one.

Neji dodged the knives easily as they bounced off the marble floors, scarring it. "You've never thrown a weapon in your life, have you?"

"About as many times as you've sat in the sun!" Under the stress, she was at a slight loss for clever comebacks. No use stressing, though, because she had more tricks up her designer sleeve.

Neji raced up the escalator.

Massie ran across the home section, grabbing another specialized set of silverware on her way out, going for the living room section. A humongous tote bag with designer logos emblazoned on it was bulging with stuff and bounced against her legs as she lugged around over her shoulder. _Dang! There's nothing here! Duh, should have stuck with the original plan. No matter._ On her way out of this room, she noticed Neji approaching her on the last escalator. "Oh no, this is gonna be loud…" Summoning all the strength in her (unathletic) thirteen year-old body, she grabbed a glass coffee table and shoved forward, pushing it through a glass balcony and onto the escalator. Neji jumped backwards back onto the security of the second floor. Once down, she watched in amazement as he seemed to spin around and deflect flying glass.

Massie huffed as she ran away. "Ehmagawd, so _nawt_ worth it!!" _At least I don't have to pay for it. _She ducked into a bathroom-oriented furniture exhibit and found one of many hidden stairwells she had studied on the map before. After running down the stairwell until she was back on the first floor, she emerged into a wide corridor, reached into her tote and threw one of her black flats as far as possible down one way (she had since replaced her footwear with expensive, colorful, designer sneakers) and ran another direction. Soon she turned into a yellow-and-green decorated makeup store. She reached into the purse and pulled out a couple of oil-and-vinaigrette salad dressing packets. She dropped at least twenty of them along the store's entrance and stomped on all of them. Then she took off the shoes and discarded them. Neji's running feet were actually audible already. _Dammit, he's actually good! That sucks! _She ran to the back of the store, cursing her pedicure being ruined by her once again bare feet being subjected to this kind of cruel treatment, and grabbed supplies as she ran to the back.

--

"I know you're in here. You think a little broken glass and desperate almost-clever tricks are going to help y-" Neji's righteous rant was cut off as he slipped and fell in the oil.

He felt his cheeks burn with the humiliation of being fooled by such a cartoonish farce. Now angry beyond belief, he stomped towards the back.

Massie reappeared near the back. She had some sort of scarf tied around her mouth and arms full of decadent glass bottles. She threw them toward Neji in rapid succession.

He spun around to dodge them. "What do you think this…UGH?" He growled at the stench of a dozen overpoweringly strong perfumes barraging him from all sides.

"THAT'S STILL NOT GOING TO HELP YOU. THIS IS NOT A SATURDAY MORNING CARTOON." He ran towards her.

"You're actually enough in touch with reality to know what those are?!" She snapped back as she threw another thing, something smaller and shiny.

Neji wasn't expecting it, his head clouded with anger. It hit him and stuck in his shoulder with a sharp jolt of pain. Red leaked out around it. He yanked it out. "TWEEZERS?!"

"Whoa!" Massie tugged off her scarf, fully revealing her look of shock. "Hey, did you see that? I actually did damage with that thing! I was hoping to get your eyes."

He ran towards her with a jolt of speed. She yelped and thrust out yet another defense. This time he caught her and threw her against a shelf in the back, sending anti-aging ointments crashing down around them. She was pushed up against the shelf with her hand holding some sort of jar that Neji's face ended up in.

He took a step back. His pale face was covered in beige cream. "And tell me… what kind of salve is this? Stinging? Burning?"

Massie bit her lip. "That's Dior."

He didn't answer and waited for her to tell him what he would be cursed with.

"… It's moisturizing."

Now shaking with anger, the teenage shinobi whipped a fingerful off his face. "You… YOU DARE DISRESPECT ME SO MUCH THAT YOU THROW MAKEUP AT ME FOR DEFENSE? YOU DON'T THINK I'M SERIOUS? I COULD KILL YOU!"

"And you'll have awesome skin doing it."

"_YOU LITTLE BRAT!_ I'M NOT GOING TO PLAY YOUR PATHETIC LITTLE GAME ANYMORE! I QUIT! I'M GOING FOR REAL TRAINING!" He stomped out. "This tournament is a joke!"

Massie watched him. As he walked out, she smirked and gave herself a tap on the thigh for a job well done.

Then she fixed her hair and slowly walked out towards her starting point, pausing briefly to look at a red minidress that would totally compliment her skin tone, and when she arrived, she looked up at the other shocked contestants. "Um, helloooo? He gave up. That means I won.

Surprised but polite applause rose up. Death by Chocolate gave her an off-putting grin. "It does indeed. Congratulations, Massie Block: you advance to round two!"

Massie half-smiled as she took in the applause as if it were a warming ray of sunlight. She triple-clapped for herself. But then she spoke above it, "Hey, hello? Can I go shopping now?"

--

Massie walked out of the store, having just purchased the red dress. She started towards the food court, deciding the other stores on her list would wait – her blood sugar was dropping dangerously low. She needed a chai latte.

She did win today, and come on, _That's to be expected_. But it was a little too close for comfort. She had a couple of bruises and a sore shoulder that a massage tomorrow in the spa section would fix. _But let's be serious. Even I can only rely so long on tricks…_

She sat down for a second at a table and did a quick Google search on her phone. When she had what she needed, she set out on a now familiar path to the Starbucks booth. She punched in a number, making a mental note to call the Pretty Committee immediately afterwards. Massie whipped out her credit card as the other end answered. "Hello, Dom and Ed's Firearm and Varied Weaponry B Us? Yeah, I was wondering, can you do overnight shipping…?"

* * *


	3. Round 2

Massie stood in the center of the spacious marble clearing. She brought her purple crystal-encrusted Motorola to her ear. "Are you watching this?"

"Do you seriously think we would miss it?!" Kristen, one of her four best friends said. Massie had them all on a five-way phone call, even though her friends were all in Massie's parents' home spa, watching the fight on the plasma TV.

"Ehmagawd, Massie…" Alicia's voice was a little calmer over the phone. "What's up with your opponent?"

"You look great, by the way!" Dylan added.

"Oh totally!" Alicia scrambled.

"Yeah!" Claire was, as usual, a little slow on the uptake trends-wise.

"Definitely, but what's with, uh, the luggage?" Kristen asked.

Massie smiled to herself for an outfit well done: black straight-legged jeans, gray suede boots, and a black leather Guess blazer. She had an overstuffed backpack emblazoned with the Louis Vuitton logo, and a matching hobo bag. "I have to go. I think this thing is about to start, and I want to end it quickly today; I need some lunch."

"Good luck!" Her friends echoed.

Massie put her cell phone away, feeling a half-smile of confidence tug at the corners of her mouth. She looked her opponent up and down, _Ew, rainbow hair much? _and gave his (big) dog a genuine smile. Her pug Bean may be about one tenth the size of that dog, but big animals wouldn't scare her off. "Aw, I like your _daaawwwwwg_!" she gushed, just to make sure he knew she wouldn't be scared. "He's so cute. What breed is he?"

"He's a flicker dog," Massie's freaky looking opponent had a smug sort of smirk on his face.

Massie smiled. "Whatever…" she murmured to herself. "Can we get started now?" She didn't like the look on his face. He didn't seem intimidated at all by Massie's equipment… not that he knew what she was hauling yet, but isn't that in itself intimidating?

"Okay. Massie versus Whist…"

Massie gave him a little smile. "I like that name. I wish it was my middle name. It's really _pretty_."

"Ready…"

He smiled back. "I don't like your name. It's really weird."

"BEGIN!"

"Ugh!" Massie sneered. "Well, fine then. If that's the way you're gonna be…" She dropped her tote bag on the ground, reached behind to her backpack, and flipped it open, taking out her first weapon. "Then I'll just be mean, too." She hoisted it on her shoulder: some sort of black, glossy gun with two prongs sticking out the front instead of a barrel. It was half the size of her and was humming.

She straightened it out, so the visible camera could display the purple crystal 'M' engraved on the side.

"OH, where'd he go?!" Massie looked around. "Did he run away? Can't play with big kid toys?"

A flying disc whizzed by her, catching her in the bicep. Her blazer ripped and she turned to face him, firing the bizarre device. Bluish, bright jolts of electricity shot out of it with a loud _FZZZZZT._

Whist dodged, and the rays hit a store devoted to all things High School Musical with a loud _CRACK_. Glass and glossy products went flying.

"Not much of a loss! Oh well, let's try something else!" She reached into the hobo bag and took out another gun. "This is called a bullpup!" She looked at the dog. "Like you!" She pressed something. Then looked at it, and pressed another part of it. "Where's… the trigger… on this thing…?" She looked up and was not surprised to see again, no Whist, even if she turned all the way around. "Ehmagawd, he's such a coward!!" She paused. "Wait." She grabbed her bag and tired to take off into running before another throwing disc sliced her across the back. "_OW!_ I think you broke the skin!" She dropped the backpack and carefully felt around her back, feeling the stinging cut and then flinching. "Owww! Are you crazy?! This is real leather, too!"

Whist appeared back in front of her with his dog. "Are _you_? You're in a fighting tournament. Yet you run around like a little prissy girl. All that heavy weaponry is cool, but you don't even know how to use it."

She kept trying to nurse her cut without seeing it, arms awkwardly twisted toward her back. "I've been here the whole time; you don't have to explain what's happened. And for your information, I don't have time to learn how to use all this stuff. I barely had time for overnight shipping!!"

"Overnight shipping, huh? Cost you extra?"

"I guess so."

He popped up in front of her.

Massie shrieked. "Ehmagawd, would you stop that?!" She put her hand to her heart.

"You have cash with you?"

"Well, yes. I mean, some. Not a lot. Why?"

"Calm down, I'm not going to rob you." His tone was hushed.

She just stared at him. "Right."

"I'm not so sure of how much I actually want to be here, risking my life each round…"

"I don't think people can get killed here, I think it's against the rules-"

"Whatever, my point is, you can just pay me to lose this round."

"Oh! Why didn't you say so?! I can do that!" She 'pfft'ed, then went back to a lower volume. "Why don't we just end this now? I have a shopping schedule to stick to. You make it look like I won, we meet up after this outside the Nookington's entrance, and I pay you. Simple." He nodded, and was about to say something, but she just continued, not wanting to let him think at all that he had the upper hand or even a say in how this was going to go (even though he did, since he was capable of taking her out right that second). "Hang on, we need to make this look real. My reputation is at stake."

She took out yet another weapon, some chunky black cylinder, wider than it was long. Massie decided to hustle, since she didn't like the way Whist was smirking at her. She made a few clicking sounds, and within seconds, it had unfolded into something _twice_ the size of her. "They kept trying to push this, so I just bought it to shut them up. They said it was good for escape. So I'll just look like I'm firing at you and then you can fall down. Okay?" She didn't wait for his answer and flipped a switch. The gun (more like a cannon) screeched. She flipped it around, over, and up, inspecting it. "Uh-oh, what's it-"

_**THUD**__. _A large ball of flame shot up and disintegrated, covering the people on the second floor, Whist, his dog, and Massie in black ash.

"I lose!" Whist teleported away.

The crowd cheered for Massie as she stood, dazed, wondering what had happened, wiping black off her face with disgust.


	4. Round 3

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used within.**

**Here's my round four entry, for the team battle. I'm not all that happy with it, and I hate the Sylar one, if only for the fact that I barely started it. At least this one is somewhat humorous.**

**And sorry to both readers and M-B that M-B's and mine turned out a wee bit similar. It honestly wasn't intentional. Whatevah.**

**Lolbonding.**

* * *

"Ehmagawd," Massie muttered to herself, standing in her usual place in the middle of the mall, but missing her usual cocky half-smile. She loved her outfit – aqua denim short-shorts, black leggings, black ankle boots, thin black patent leather belt, red velour Juicy hoodie – but hated the stupid circumstances. She filed her nails. There was a pale girl in black next to her, but Massie hadn't acknowledged her enough to even fully look her way.

"Pay attention, little girl, we're about to start," The Death By Chocolate demon shouted to Massie. Or, she assumed it was to her, since she still wasn't looking up.

She put her purple glitter nail file away into the pocket of her usual Louis Vuitton backpack, the same as last time (matched the suitcase next to her) and looked up. She gave a theatrical sigh and slouched forward, making some move to stretch but then gave up.

"What's your problem?" The girl asked with a thick Australian accent.

Massie turned to look at her. The girls' skin was practically gray, her Goth outfit a menagerie of scarlet and black. Massie had to admit she liked her red Mary Janes, but other than that… looks like the title of 'Massie Block: Gothbuster' would have to be temporarily retired, since she had no idea what the girls' powers were. For this same reason, and since they were unfortunately working together, Massie held back her army of rude Goth comments. "My problem is this stupid tournament. A_ team-up_? What are we, five? Is this field day? Are we trying to make widdle fwiends in this tournament?"

The girl snickered. "I guess you have a point. Could be worse. You could be up against Kyuubi. I'm Argent, by the way."

"I'm Massie," She still sounded bored, didn't make eye contact, and didn't offer her hand. Massie knew she was being a little rude but hey – she was kinda miffed. "Oh yeah, who are we fighting?" She narrowed her opponents. One was a scowling, blonde guy, and the other was a little red furry… thing, that somehow looked both cute and mean. She made a little cough-noise of disgust at them. Argent snickered again. Massie decided to actually say something crucial to the fight. "I have outrageously large weaponry. What do you do?"

"Massie and Argent versus Vexen and 627! BEGIN!" The demon shouted.

Massie unzipped the backpack. She hoisted out a sort of cannon-like gun and rested it on her shoulder. It weighed too much, and she fell over backwards. She looked up, and a little spike of ice (courtesy of Vexen) hit her gun, cracking apart, then another did the same. She jumped up before another could land where her neck was. Massie grabbed her pack and pulled out a simple pistol.

"…Ah…!" She dropped it in shock when she saw the humongous ball of glowing red energy that Argent was forming above her head. It was almost big as the weapon she had tried (and failed) to use seconds ago. Vexen was standing across from her, playing up his intense face.

_Wow. She's totally gonna kick some ass. _Massie shrugged to herself, glad someone else was doing the dirty work – but they would still look good together as winners. _Huh_. Maybe there was something to the team concept…

Massie lifted herself up behind Argent, brushed off her outfit, and turned her head around to stare at the ball of energy for a minute. But it began to hurt her eyes, so she turned her head back around to see _Gah! It's the thingy! _627 let forth a fierce, guttural growl at her. Massie sneered in disgust. She grabbed her pistol. It would be so easy just to shoot the damned thing. But she thought of her little pug Bean. Even though this _whatever_ totally wasn't Bean, it would be lying to say Massie didn't have somewhat of a affiliation towards animals in general… besides, killing was against the rules.

He hissed, showing off teeth. "Evil evil evil!"

She shot him.

The bullet had no effect. He took it out of his fur.

"UWAH!" Massie stumbled backwards a few feet and went tumbling into Argent, who was already looking a little worse for wear.

"Hey!" Argent said. "I can take Vexen! Don't get involved unless you're done with your little alien creature!"

"Trade you!" Massie said.

Argent sensed there was more to the alien, otherwise Massie wouldn't have suggested that. Despite this, she shrugged, "Alright!"

Vexen didn't laugh – he looked like he might have, but didn't want to. What an odd man. "You're sure you want to do that?"

Massie jumped back up onto her feet after grabbing another gizmo out of her pack. "No, I was possessed by a demon that made me say it. Totally not my decision or anything."

He 'pfft'ed her sarcasm and shot an ice spike at her. Massie dodged it, but didn't escape a second. It hit her left forearm. She shrieked – she wasn't used to that kind of pain. Cringing, she raised her next choice weapon – a fair-sized machine gun. This caught Vexen somewhat off-guard, but he knew enough to present a moving target when Massie began rapid fire.

"Come on!" Massie had been practicing, but not with moving targets or that kind of HARD thing! "ARGENT!"

"What?" She jumped backwards and was back-to-back with Massie.

"Can you throw that thingy?"

627 ran at Argent, who made a shield upon impact, bouncing him away. "I don't see why not."

"Can you throw him at a moving target?"

"It wouldn't hurt to try." Meanwhile, 627 was charging at her.

"Follow my lead," Massie forced Vexen into a path curling around her and Argent.

Argent snatched up 627 in a lasso of her morphing energy. He flailed in protest. Argent heaved him to the side, right into Vexen's path.

Massie found their crunch-whack noise both sickening and satisfying.

The crowd found more it satisfying.

Massie managed to smile through the now intense throbbing and stinging in her shoulder. "Who knew. We make a great team."

Argent smirked.

"Let me give you my IM."


	5. Enter the Pretty Committee

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used within, nor the concept of the tournament the characters are entered in, nor the... mall-type-place that the characters are placed in. **

**Anyways, this is an explanation chapter for the third party that Massie will be bringing in for her next fight - the little clique of girls that she's head of, known as the Pretty Committee. Sylar will not be getting one, as Sylar doesn't really have a third party that would be interested in helping him. **

**It's from Claire's point of view because she's unsure, kind of emo sometimes, neurotic, and doesn't know much at all about fashion or trends, as well as the fact that she isn't rich; I figured you'd need a break from all things Massie.**

**This makes me all nostalgic for the days when Claire wasn't Cam Cam Cam all over her notebook all the time all the livelong day all over her narration... am I right, _Clique_ readers? **

**Heh heh. I included a _Persepolis _joke/reference/allusion/blabla. That no one will get. 'Cept fo me. Ha ha.**

* * *

Claire Lyons picked at her red cuticles. She had thought that Massie's leaving for a few days would mean her fingernails would get a break, the poor things, but she didn't realize that this tournament would actually endanger her friend's life. She was picking more than she had ever imagined she could. Bleeding was frequent. But she looked down to the black suede couch she was sitting on – her Old Navy jeans felt juxtaposed against the nice couch and nicer clothing – and decided to stop picking before Massie called her out on getting bloody cuticle on the couch.

"Kuh-laire," Massie stomped out of the dressing room in front of the mirror but didn't inspect herself yet, choosing instead to scold Claire (one of her group's favorite pastimes). "I told you that I would pay for the outfit you choose for your first live TV appearance. And all of your other appearances after, for that matter."

Kristen Gregory flew by them into the dressing room with a few pairs of pants. "It's the least you could do for shipping us out here on such short notice, throwing us a bunch of devices and instruction manuals, and saying 'Be ready for live TV in a couple days!'."

"Helloooo? Key words there being 'live TV'!" Massie now took the opportunity to carefully inspect her outfit for any flaw, any at all. "This should be my time to shine, but I'm choosing to share it with all of you because you're my friends. And I'm paying for your weapons, _and_ I'm paying for the online lessons, _and_ I'm paying for your clothes and lattes."

Dylan Marvil chewed a piece of beef jerky she stole from one of the contestants. "You? Sharing the spotlight just because we're friends? Funny, I thought it had more to do with the fact that you're scared to do this alone again now that they're letting non-contestants interfere."

"Hey, stop complaining!" Alicia Rivera squirmed out of a blazer that she hadn't gone into the dressing room for. Then she put her own back on. "Massie's got a point. Shopping sprees, live TV, and a break from boring old Westchester are a small price to pay if you ask me."

Claire got up and aimlessly looked at a pile of cashmere sweaters. "What _are_ we paying for again?"

"You're not paying for anything!" Massie sang and waved her credit card.

Kristen swung open the door to her dressing room, wearing new dark wash jeans and just a thin white camisole on top. The tight jeans and skimpy top showed off her good soccer player body. Claire figured if anyone in their group had a chance at running around and beating people up, it would probably be Kristen, since she was their only athlete and probably their smartest. "Good, because these jeans are way past my budget. And I've seen better fit in _Persepolis_."

Claire pretended to search through the sales rack while she mulled over the other girls and the outcome of their involvement in this tournament. Alicia was probably the prettiest girl she had ever seen, and had a way of seeming more innocent than she was, so she may be able to survive through those assets (and a couple other _assets_).

Dylan could probably do something gross like fart or burp or make a joke. Maybe the enemy would laugh or get distracted in some other way and they could all run away. Or, Dylan's other usual method, she could always threaten to have her famous talk show star mother send the paparazzi after them.

Massie seemed to have survived long enough. She always had a plan.

For herself, though, Claire envisioned getting her white blonde hair plucked out like a chicken.

Massie came up to Claire, put her hands on Claire's shoulder, and steered her away for a few feet. "No clearance clothing allowed. Not on live TV." Then Massie turned on her heels and left Claire by the silk tank tops.

"Funny you should call it _live_ TV."

"What?" Massie called behind her shoulder.

"Nothing. Just a bad joke."

"No time for joking. Shop. Train with guns."


	6. Round 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own the characters used within, nor the concepts of the mall or tournament.**

**I particularly like this entry, for the first time in a while. It's long, and I mixed up the fighting more than I have been lately. Except for Massie's: she still just uses weapons. But I came up with a theme this time. **

**I was generous with the ellipses, I know. And my Lina writing is weak, at best. **

**Catch the Armageddon references and win confidence!**

**Catch the Project Runway references and win more confidence!**

**Complain to me that Kenley's Aquarius-themed dress wasn't that ugly and I'll tear you a new asshole!**

Massie stood in the familiar center of the mall on the first floor. She was also familiar now with being fully armed, people watching her a story up, facing someone she was about to fight, and her outfit being ah-mazing (blue skinny Citizens, studded black suede knee high boots, and green Lucky military-style jacket, silver chain choker. Hold your applause.) But yet something was off… because she was supposed to be flanked by four stylish, dangerous girls, just like Argent on the other side of the clearing near the fountain (of course, they weren't stylish!)…

And only Claire was running to Massie from the spawing.

Massie waved her arms, as if to say, "Get over here!" meaning Claire should run faster, though Massie herself was not making any move to get to Claire. Despite that, Claire quickened her pace and made it to Massie out of breath. Despite _that_, Massie immediately began whispering frantic questions to her. "Claire. Where. Are. Kristen. Dylan. And. Alicia."

Claire caught her breath. "They thought the free all-day spa treatment you gave them was today."

Massie stomped her foot. "No, tomorrow!!"

"I know! But they've been there for a half hour already! I tried talking to them, but they couldn't hear me! They were in the spray tan section."

Massie clenched her fists as a grimace spread across her face that would make her Botoxed mother's face pop off should she try it. She bowed her head down low for a moment, her hair blocking her face, and shook with pure anger.

Claire was too terrified to do anything but watch.

Then Massie suddenly stopped shaking, unclenched, ungrimaced, turned around to face Argent and her team, smiled and gave them a thumbs-up. Then she said, "Can you give us just one moment?"

Argent just smiled. "Sure, whatever!"

Massie wondered why Argent was being so pleasant about a delay when she and her team were there early, until Massie remembered that she basically made friends with the goth girl up until now. She turned to Claire. "This just keeps getting worse." She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. _You've been through worse situations. Think Alpha. Think! Think! How to solve this…_

_What would Victoria Beckham do?_

Claire wasn't scared anymore (no more than usual, at least), and she was just curious. "Massie?"

"Victoria."

"What?"

Massie's eyes snapped open. She put her hands on her hips and planted her legs apart. She pointed her chin at Claire's overstuffed Jansport backpack. "You've got your stuff in there, right?"

"Yeah. It's really heavy…"

"Here's the plan. I'm going to try to first to get rid of some of Argent's little assistants. You have to distract the others when I do this."

"WHAT? Massie, that- that's- totally unsafe! And not smart! You know in the movies splitting up is always bad!"

"This isn't the movies!" Massie cracked up, then got serious again. "This is our LIVES. I know what I'm doing. I have some ideas. And if we win this, I'll buy you a whole new wardrobe."

Claire's face was one of defeat, even though the round had not been started. "Will you cover my medical expenses?"

"I don't see why not!" She turned to Death by Chocolate and shouted, "We're ready!"

"_Round 5! Team Massie versus Team Argent_…"

Claire and Massie faced the other team. Massie had a look of confidence. Claire didn't bother trying.

Claire whispered. "How will you take out Argent's teammates?"

"_BEGIN!_"

Argent led her team in a charge to Massie's team. Argent went straight forward. Lina Inverse an Ami Mizuno veered left,

Massie whipped out her first weapon: a compact flamethrower. Her eyes scanned the girls. "You there! In the black jumpsuit with the gross yellow leather accessories!"

Amara flipped her hair back and struck a battle pose (ooh!). "What kind of fancy weapon is that?"

Massie decided to do a little advertising. "This is the first-ever fold-out flamethrower, called the Flame Rising 3000! And now for a little demonstration!" She flipped a switch and pressed something. A humongous ball of fire erupted right behind her head. "EEEEK!" _WHOA WRONG WAY! _Massie's hair caught on fire and she shrieked again, dropped to the ground and began rapidly patting it to put it out.

Claire shrieked too, because the rest of the Argent team had charged towards her.

And then there was a third shriek… from Lina Inverse, who had also caught on fire. But to a much larger extent than Massie. Her clothes had ignited. She ran, screaming, all the way to the fountain and jumped it.

"Oh no!" Ami (in Massie's eyes, the girl dressed in some sort of whorish schoolgirl outfit) said, worried about how badly burnt her comrade might be.

"Oh no…" Massie looked like she might cry as she used her compact to see how burnt her hair was. She snapped it shut and gave Amara her best death glare. "My hair. _You female dog, you_. Now I'm really going to charbroil you." She held up her flamethrower (the right way, this time).

Amara shrugged. "Hey, I didn't light your hair on fire! But I feel a little bad, so I'll give you a tip: don't use that flamethrower…" She stepped a little bit closer. "I didn't light your hair on fire. But I could." She created a fireball in her right hand.

Massie's glare disappeared. "Oh. Okay then. Well, don't count me out just yet!" She reached into her trusty Louis and took out… a large box. "I haven't been able to open this one yet. It's custom-made. It's the Kenley Model Aquarius Waterjet S5."

"That's a mouthful," Amara watched her open out with a bothered look on her face.

"Hang on…"

Amara shot a fireball at her.

--

Claire was thankful that one of the girls who charged her, the blue-haired girl, had gone off to see how their grilled teammate was doing, because two was proving to be hard enough.

Claire had attempted to shoot one of the weapons Massie had given her at the cheery girl with the braid and pink circus outfit (who Claire had been heard called Ty Lee). Claire's first weapon was the Rockhound, which Massie said was very "green". This was very apparent when it fired little painful-looking rock pellets – which Ty Lee was easily able to flip around and dodge. It didn't help that Argent had created some large red energy whip, which she periodically snapped towards Claire. It was big and surprisingly slow, so Claire was able to avoid it (by throwing herself bodily as far as she could), but she had to keep remembering to shoot at Ty Lee to keep her away too.

But she had slacked off on Ty Lee's part. The flippy girl came up and tired to poke at Claire, but Claire kept blocking with her sturdy gun and after a while made her best pissed off face and held the gun up.

Ty Lee paused and smiled. "You won't be able to shoot me you know!"

"I know!" Claire heaved the gun forth right into Ty Lee's forehead. It bounced away and behind Ty Lee.

She flopped to the floor.

Claire smiled. "That worked…" She murmured as Argent reared back…

--

Massie had thrown the box in the way of the fireball. Now the box had totally turn into ashes, and her gun remained. Massie had been jumping around like an idiot, trying to get more stuff out of her backpack and only succeeding in dropping some ammo, a pistol, and a Luna bar.

"Yes!" Massie jumped her over to the Kenley Model Aquarius Waterjet S5. "EW, it's hideous!" The metal had different colors and patterns and was bulbous in some place. She reached down and grabbed it. "OW!" She retracted her hand. "That hurts!"

"Yeah, it was on fire! I think that makes things hot!" Amara quipped, making bored little circles of fire around her head.

"Don't quip, that's my thing!" Massie kicked the gun towards Amara's head and made a dive for her backpack.

But Amara dodged it. "Do you think hitting me in the head like that would work?!"

"No, but this might!" Massie took out a purple, shiny pistol-looking thing.

Amara stepped back and held her fists out, prepared to go up against some kind of elemental force.

Massie shot her in the leg with her pistol.

Amara screamed and dropped to the ground. "What?! But… you have all these fancy weapons and-!"

"Sometimes a gun is just a gun."

Amara growled in anger.

Massie cocked it. "I could try to shoot you in the arm just to make sure you stay down, but I warn you, I don't have the best aim. I shot you in the leg, and I WAS aiming for the arm."

"Don't! I give up!"

"La," Massie sauntered away to help Claire.

--

Claire looked all the way up to see a large red energy smiley face about one-and-a-half stories high. It opened its huge mouth. Then a glowing, pulsating hand that matched it in scale reached toward Claire.

Argent popped up above the face. "This mate's hungry."

Claire's mouth dropped. _That's. So. Creeeeeeepyyy_…

"KUH-LAIRE!" Massie grabbed the Rockhound and pointed it all the way up at Argent. She flipped a switch and it shot a geyser of dark brown liquid that covered Argent's face.

The smiley face and hand shrunk back to Argent, who was furiously rubbing her eyes, turning the mud and makeup into a gross mess unfit for even a drag queen.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Claire said. "That, that was just so creepy it caught me off guard."

"At this point I'm used to creepy stuff, but I get where you're coming from," Serious face. "But don't let it happen again. Here. Take your Rockhound back. It's genius."

"Okay, so you got these cute little elemental things," Argent's face was brown. "But they're kind of predictable. I wouldn't call them genius!" Argent jumped onto a red energy disk and flew upwards.

Ami jumped back into the fray. "I haven't had the chance to participate!"

Massie ran away.

"WHAT?" Claire called after her.

Massie grabbed her Kenly Aquarius Waterwhateverthefuck. "Ami Mizuno! Over here!"

Surprisingly enough, she obeyed, and began to wave some little pretty wand she had at Massie.

Massie laughed. "Playing fairy princess is so kindergarten!" She shot the now cooled down water weapon at Ami. A powerful jet of water went flying straight at her-

-And Ami waved her hand once and sent it up and around like rain.

"OH… what?!"

"I control water."

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"I hope you've got something else."

"Yyyyyyyyeah. Of course."

"Shine Aqua Illusion!" She reached up to the water.

"Ehmagawd-"

--

Claire took out her second-to-last special weapon Massie had given her: something called Just Air. Claire didn't think that sounded promising, but decided to look at it until Ty Lee popped up in front of her with a bloody spot on her forehead.

"THAT was MEAN!" she shouted.

Argent saw the name Just Air even from her elevated spot. "And I bet that shoots air jets at me or something, right?"

"That sounds stupid!" Ty Lee giggled.

"Let's try it!" Claire picked it up.

"Oh no you don't!" Ty Lee jabbed her in the arm. Claire lost feeling in her left arm and dropped the gun after only being able to press a few random buttons.

Upon hitting the ground, the gun released a mini mushroom cloud of just plain air. Argent was sent straight upwards and through the glass dome ceiling. Ty Lee and Claire were sent in opposite directions, Ty Lee into a pretzel stand headfirst (bad placement! In the middle of a fight! Who came up with that?!) and Claire into…

Ami Mizuno. They both went tumbling away and into a Starbucks stand.

However, Ami was the first to get up. She was covered in iced coffee. Her blue eyes showed some anger. Claire scrabbled backwards. The water in the ice pitchers rose up in the air and swirled around.

And then Dylan came up from behind and whacked Ami in the head with her weapon.

Alicia stepped carefully over the sailor scout's knocked out form. "Sorry we're late. I brought the lightning thing. Kristen has the ice one."

Claire flopped down, her white blonde hair nicely latte-scented now, and covered her eyes with her wrist. "No nukes… no nukes…" She could hear Massie's team being called the victor by Death by Chocolate. The contestants cheered.

Then she saw, from an upside down view, Massie bounding over. "Hey! Claire! Lattes, good idea!" She clapped her hand and faced the other contestants on the second floor. "A ROUND OF LATTES FOR EVERYONE ON ME!"

They cheered, except for Deadpool, who tried to shout over the cheering, "Who ate my beef jerky?! Someone ate my beef jerky!"

* * *


	7. Round 5

**Disclaimer: I own none of the characters used within. I do not own the concept of the tournament or mall.**

**Kristen, Dylan, and Alicia's violent happenings are all some sort of pop culture thingy reference. I don't seriously expect you to get them. They're for my personal satisfaction.**

**I'll be doing the chaos round.**

* * *

Dylan bit into her beef jerky (though again, not technically her beef jerky) and ripped off a chunk of it. "Awkward."

Massie stared at their round five opponent, her mouth hanging open just a bit in that familiar way that only teenagers can do – a combination of being put upon and cursed and being pissed off, yet not caring enough to really emote.

She and her girls were in sort of coordinated outfits – Massie's outfit was a navy bomber jacket with navy boots and dark wash jeans. Alicia's was a red zip up Ralph Lauren blazer and a red skirt with red flats, which she tapped impatiently and looked around the mall. Dylan was in a dark purple sweatsuit, which held more of Deadpool's jerky (his revenge: not just beef!). Kristen had a black velour Juicy hoodie and black jeans. Claire bit her fingernails, then crossed her arms over her dark gray tee.

Obviously nervous from the way she was fidgeting, Claire now uncrossed her arms and brushed some imaginary lint or whatever the hell they're always pretending to brush off of her faded gray jeans and Converse high tops from Hot Topic (per se). She looked around again, trying to follow Alicia's constantly turning gaze. "Alicia, what are you looking for?"

"Our opponent."

"That's it," Kristen, like Massie, just kept blinking at her.

"Ohhh!" Alicia looked at Angel. "I thought that was, like, our opponent's dog or something."

Dylan snorted. "'Or something' seems to fit."

Alicia shifted her weight to her left foot. "She's kinda cute."

"Final round… BEGIN!"

Massie shrugged. At least this'll be simple. Despite what she assumed would be a predictable outcome for her crowning final round, Massie forced one of her signature half-smiles, and suddenly everything felt like it would go swimmingly, as usual. All her girls just got more custom weapons last night. She reached for her latest special order weapon-

_Fwoom!_

-But Alicia just shot hers first.

"ALICIA!" Massie took a shocked jumped back when Alicia used her monogrammed, outfit-coordinated Skwigelf 2666 model flamethrower before she was given the signal. "You scared the crap out of me!"

"Sorry!" Alicia didn't even look at Massie. She was looking around, once again, for "Where's our opponent?"

Massie steadied herself and her breath again and looked around with the rest of the Pretty Committee. "You didn't, like, obliterate her already, did you?"

"That's a good word," Kristen said, helping Dylan heave her weapon, some heavy, brutal looking chunk of metal ridiculously named the Murderface 4666, onto her shoulder. "But I don't think that's what happened."

Dylan whipped her head around. The weapon nearly knocked her off balance. "Unless that fountain has a moving pink fuzzy duck, I found her!"

Angel jumped out of the fountain with noticeable difficulty and onto a column, then much more quickly climbed onto the railing with impressive agility, jumping over the other contestants.

Massie ran a bit towards it, but Angel was on the second story already. She turned around to find a staircase and called out, "Shoot at her! Somebody!"

"But it's a moving target!" Claire shouted.

"She's gone," Kristen said.

Massie came to a screeching halt and turned around again. She tapped her head. "She's a fast little dog-monkey! Okay. Let's split up."

"Great idea!" Alicia butt-kissed. "I mean, someone's gotta get her that way, right? There are five of us."

Kristen shrugged. "We can't swarm her in a loud little army like this."

Claire bit the nails of her left hand and with her right adjusted her Jansport backpack.

"No way!" Dylan blurted.

Massie turned to meet her eyes. "And why not?"

"Something bad always happens when people split up in the movies."

"Dylan?"

"Yeah?"

"I'm not even going to bother coming up with a clever jab for you. You know how stupid that made you sound."

Dylan rolled her eyes, crossed her arms, and mumbled something.

"Now there are five corridors leading from this little central fountain place. Perf!" Massie clapped her hands once. "We are all to meet back up here in forty-five. If no one has taken care of the what's-it-called, then we need to regroup and get some lattes and come up with a grand master plan. I'm sure someone will get it by then, though. Got it?"

"Done," said Alicia.

"Done," said Kristen.

"Done," mumbled Dylan.

"Done," Claire said.

"And done!" And on Massie's note, off they went.

-----------

Kristen speed-walked down her corridor. _No point running… wastes energy… just get where you need to… _She passed countless shops with makeup, stationary, cookies, motorcycles, swords, _Swords?_, clerks, _Clerks?!_, and clothes _Oooh, that better be in my size_. She was trying to take in her surroundings, formulate a plan, and go vaguely where she thought the experiment would be by now as far as distance.

She stopped suddenly. _Wait… no, I don't even know what direction she went! This is pointless. Okay. Stop. Stop, take some time to think, get a real plan. Make it flexible._ Kristen was sure that if she were to at least come up with a rough idea of what she was doing, she'd be one step ahead of some of the others, who were probably just running around trying to chase off of some alien creature whose real skills they were unaware of.

She thought over the stores around her and the items in her Juicy backpack (I don't even know if there is a Juicy backpack! I am making this designer crap up!) and the general layout of the mall. She thought over her own skills and mentally leafed through the other girls' skills as well, all in the course of a couple minutes, only to come to the conclusion. _Okay, I'm smart, and smarter than the others, but I do not fight, that is not my thing_. Not that she had a choice.

Kristen spotted moving pinkness out of the corner of her eye. "Eep!"

The pink just moved faster. She was also… shining. _Shining? Is she carrying something… metal? Maybe she stole another PC member's gun or something. OH, that would be just GREAT! _She stopped, looked at Kristen, then ran away again into the darkness of a second story corridor.

"Strong but sloooowww as a snail," Kristen looked over the mini-cannon. "Great." Kristen huffed. Back to planning. Something flew by her and made a 'Tink!' noise. "Ehmagawd, what?" 'Tink.' Something visibly hit the garbage can next to her. Kristen looked down and saw… a dime. 'Tink!' 'Tink!' 'Tink!' _Is that little bitch throwing coins at me?!_ Kristen fumbled, reloaded, and shot into the corridor into what was now a change storm. The hail stopped.

_It could be a trick_. Kristen ducked into the nearest shop – the puppet shop. "Ew, that's not creepy…" She stood near the doorway and tried to get a good look through the window. She took out her weapon, oddly named Pickles the Assault Rifle 5666 and began to reload (_Doing makeup instead of loading guns, per Massie's order – first bad idea of the day._). After about a minute's wait, she stepped more next to the doorway to look out. Another minute passed_. I bet she went to see the others… I'm sick of googly eyes and monster fur. _She stepped out into the corridor.

A penny hit her in the head with horribly surprising strength. "OUUUCH."

She dropped to her butt on the ground and felt her head. It was bleeding. She felt like crying. _I think this is my first ever serious injury and serious fight. And it's from a PENNY._

----------

Dylan was wandering around, getting occasionally distracted by various clothing and candy stores. She didn't think it was worth pursuing this Angel creature. She doubted that even if she made an effort, she wouldn't reach it in time - er gun had already been packed away and was giving her a backache. That's how sure she was of her own… not quite failure, but not success. And if she did, she wouldn't know what to do. It would be like a retriever who finally caught one of the ducks she was always chasing after, then stood dumbly with the fowl in its mouth, not sure whether to bury it or eat it or… _Do other dog stuff with it_. Except Dylan preferred chicken and tofu.

_Oh, wait… it'll look really bad if I don't do anything. I'll go help one of the others. I'll find Kristen! I bet she's got some elaborate plan that's already half done._ _It'll look cool if we do this all teamwork-style and without Massie. We never get enough attention._ Dylan began to run back to where the group had originally split up. Then she decided to speed walk instead. No use wasting energy.

----------

"Work!" _THAM!_ "Work!" _THAM!_

Massie whined and flipped her Explosion 1666 over a few times as she sat on the stairwell on the fourth floor. She had done this routine of yelling at it, whining at it, bargaining with it (mentally, of course, she's not that crazy yet), shaking it, flipping it over, and banging it against the wall. "Uuugh. Stupid. Custom. Made!" She banged it again. It sure was a good thing no one was here to see her lose control. Oh no, yeah, she just lost control! _Okay, yeah, not good. Okay. Yeah, you're okay. It's the gun. Not you._ She closed her eyes, rubbed her temples and got up. She kept her eyes closed but half-smiled again for her own encouragement. _Everything will be fine. You'll be okay. You will. You win._ She opened her eyes and saw Angel. "AGH!" She fell back onto the stairs when Angel jumped on her with surprising force, knocking the wind out of her and banging her elbows. Massie still wasn't used to _much_ physical pain, but felt a surge of pride when she realized how strong she had become. That didn't hurt much! She half-smiled and got up. Angel clung to her with multiple limbs. "EW, get off of me!!" Angel began pawing, which hurt somehow. Massie dropped the Explosion Whatever and grabbed her trusty plain old engraved pistol.

Angel saw it and froze.

Massie's half-smile reappeared once again. She shot Angel.

Not much happened.

"WHAT? Not another one!" _Blam!_ Massie shot her again. _Blam!_ And again. _Blam!_ And again. She tried to get one foot up and kick her off. _Blam!_ Shot her again.

Finally, Angel got sick of it. Massie tried to shoot her again. Angel pushed off Massie. She pushed the gun up at the last minute. _Blam!_ Massie shot herself in the face.

Angel ran away. It sounded like she giggled. Massie landed backwards on her butt. Blood gushed in her mouth for the first time in her life. This made the fact that she was _alive_ secondary in her mind that moment. She felt her face. There was a _hole_ in her left cheek. Blood poured onto her face. The bullet had gone _through_ her cheek. She shrieked, her mouth muffled with blood.

No more half-smiles.

---------

Claire was panicking.

So what else was new?

No, but seriously, this was new.

Secretly, Claire figured that since she had done most, well, a lot, or at least, you know, half the work last round, if she let the other girls handle this round, it wouldn't have been a big deal. So she wandered down her shop-lined corridor, seeking refuge. She found it first in a store made solely for gummies (gah! Clairegasm!), but it was then that she realized she was being followed. She then retreated to the spa. And didn't even bother thinking how awesome it was that she was cornered in a spa of all places.

Because Claire just isn't all that into spas.

And the key word there being 'cornered'.

And she didn't realize know as she fumbled with her weapon, the Wartooth 3666 which she only just now realized was a crossbow, not an actual gun. She wasn't even sure what a crossbow was (just that the Wartooth 3666 was one).

The Pink Fuzzy Thing approached her… closer and closer… she dropped the gun… dropped to her knees…

---

"Whoa," Dylan bit into another piece of beef jerky, but she wasn't hungry anymore. She just chewed, her eyes widening and stomach churning even more with every chew. She forced herself to swallow and half dropped, half threw to the side her mystery Deadpool jerky.

Alicia was lying on the floor with some blood pooling around her head, her dark hair fanning out and covering her face.

Dylan leaned over Alicia. She had no idea what to say. There was a long pause, then she randomly choked out, "Speed?"

Her gun, also bloodied, lay off to the side. Way at the end of the corridor, towards the spa section, there was a flash of pink. Dylan forced herself to look at it. There was pink moving. She also saw in the window that Claire was there.

Dylan took about thirty seconds to try to figure out what to do. Her thoughts went something along the lines of _OhmygodwhatdoIdoohmygawdhospitalcallcellphoneohmygodoperatorbwaaaaah!_ She needed more time, but was too scared to even summon the rational thinking to figure that out. She took out her weapon, _Okay, miniature cannon, do your stuff!_ She loaded a heavy black ball, a little smaller than a tennis ball, in to the Murderface 4666. She fiddled with the back of it, made sure it was all loaded, and shot it. _THOOM._ It made her liver vibrate. She stumbled, but regained her balance.

---

Claire sniffed and wiped her eyes with her left hand, her free hand. The other one was getting painted by Angel. Angel periodically looked up at Claire to nod, make eye contact, and murmur something to the effect of, "Mm-hmm. Mm-yeah."

"I mean, I just cry all the time!" Claire used the tissue Angel had just handed to her to wipe her moist face. "Thank you so much for listening. I've needed to just get that out of my system for so long, and you know, I just hate it when everything gets bottled up. I mean, everyone questions their sex-"

_THWOOMMM!_

The little cannonball shot into the spa, into the tiled walls and consequently into multiple pipes. Tile and water of varying temperatures exploded all over the place, all over Claire, and all over Angel.

---

Alicia popped up. "Ooh! Did we win?"

"Ahgh!" Dylan jumped away. "You scared me. Oh, wait, 'did we win', that's good! I shot at the right place then, right? Not just at some pink mouse or something else that doesn't exist?" Her smile disappeared. "Wait, I thought you were bleeding out over there."

Alicia reached into her outfit and took out some little pieces of red, crumpled plastic. "There was a Halloween novelty store in my corridor. I thought it would be a really good idea to pretend I got really hurt by our opponent when I actually didn't so she would let her guard down."

Dylan narrowed her green eyes. "Then what?"

"Then I realized I kinda… forgot to pack any extra fuel _or_ extra weaponry. So I kept playing dead even after she was gone."

"But, uh, then _I_ came. I meant, why did you stay down even after I was here?"

"I thought you might screw up and it would be safer to stay down."

Dylan sneered. "Well, I didn't screw up, did I?"

"You did. I knew that the place you shot at was where Claire went before."

Dylan's mouth dropped. "Oooops. Dang. Crap. You know, I'm not even supposed to be doing this. I was looking for Kristen."

"You got it totally wrong," Kristen came down to where they were, looking kind of tired and defeated. She had a hand and wad of gauze on the back of her head. Dark red dried on a few locks of her short, dirty blonde hair. It clashed. Someone should tell her. "Massie assigned me to another corridor."

"And this is yours?" Dylan asked Alicia.

"That's what I thought. But then I saw it was Claire's. She's here."

"Maybe she's got it wrong."

"I think Kristen's the only one who got anything right."

Kristen shook her head. "I had to go fix up a nasty cut from a penny."

Dylan held up her hand to silence Kristen and continued facing Alicia. "Excuse me. I shot the stuffed toy."

"And ME!" Claire stumbled up behind them, covered in wet dust. A claylike cover was beginning to form all over her. She was limping. "WHY would you do that? You're lucky the showers piled liked dominoes on her and not on me."

Dylan shrugged. "I guess I'm the only one who understands what's for the good of the mission."

"You underschtand what'sch for the good of the misscchsion?"

Alicia gasped. "Ehmagawd. What happened to you?! My blood is fake. Did you copy me?"

Massie's makeup was running into the smears of blood all over the bottom left half of her face. Her mouth was open, the whole thing stained red, and her teeth were clenched. She had a wad of napkins pressed to her face and was dragging an 'M'-embossed, totally red handkerchief behind her. "My blood isgsh not _fake_. Now where isgsh that fucking creature?"

All the girls were terrified and taking tentative steps away from Massie. Alicia finally willed herself to be the one to speak. "She's, uh, she's down. Dead. Unconscious. Whatever. We got her." Forced a smile. "Yay."

"Are there remains?" She paused and stared a burning hole right through Alicia and her neck and her glossy black hair (you could almost smell the hair burning). "She ruined my face. _RUINED IT_."

"It's okay! All taken care of!"  
"Yeah, I got her," Dylan seemed clueless to the Massie's intentions.

Claire thought about it and stammered, "I-I led her into a, uh, I cornered her! I mean, had her follow me!"

Alicia put her finger up. "Point! Oh, and I also made her follow Claire!"

"I went down the right corridor," Kristen said.

"Someone's going to pay for this!" Massie's persona was that of a teapot whistling.

"THAT WOULD BE ME!" Death by Chocolate had flown over to their area after shapeshifting some seventy-five percent cocoa wings (what he really wanted was a chorus to sing him a heavenly musical strain). He whooshed right over their heads (just to be a dick!).

Kristen took a few steps away, as if clearing for his landing.

Claire bowed her head down and let out a whimper of fear and pathetic-ness.

Alicia held her hair down and looked bothered by the interruption.

Dylan looked suddenly hungered.

And Massie just looked pissed. She stomped over to the sweet demon, not caring that he had a couple feet and countless powers over her and poked him. "I DON'T CARE WHAT ROUND THISCH ISCH. I'm not done with your tournament. I may have won, but this isgsh barely a victory. I'm fucking bleeding all over the place! I never schwear. It meanschs loscht control. Now I'm schwearing like fucking crazy." (Pause to spit out blood.) "There another round? There better be!"

"Why yes there is, bloody, damp popular girl," Death by Chocolate had an amused look on his face. "There's a chaos round next. You still won your prize. Do you want that first?"

"Keep it. We may have won round five, but we're in thisch chaoschhh-" (spit) "… round for all or nothing."


End file.
